Alaskan Aggressor F-16s, Oregon F-15s headed Down Under

[Mike Y]

http://thebaseleg.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/alaskan-aggressor-f-16s-oregon-f-15s.html

http://www.thebaseleg.com/photos/i-r2Np2Tj/0/M/i-r2Np2Tj-M.jpg

http://www.thebaseleg.com/photos/i-n8ZNSHW/0/M/i-n8ZNSHW-M.jpg

[Michael Johnson]

Thanks for the heads up Mike. Now I've got an extra reason to visit the family in Newcastle.

[David C]

Possible inclusions at the Avalon Airshow?

Dave C

[Jaryd stock]

You will find the week after the airshow the Vipers will be here for two weeks, a week after that the F-15's will be here.
What is noteworthy is that a WASP class carrier is apparently meant to be stationed in Darwin due to the Marines deployment to the northend during the time of the airshow, so there are rumors that aircraft will be attending that are from that carrier.

Now that is just rumors at this stage regarding the Marines, the F-22's are meant to be coming back and this time with a demo team. RAF are sending there A330 MRTT- Voyager, JASDF is sending there KC-767.

Wether the Vipers are sent to the Airshow or not remains to be seen, put it this way a lot has been promised before but due to other commitments or ops they haven't showed....

[Jaryd stock]

Can confirm Alaskan F-16's will be at Avalon and F-22's also will attending, this time they will be putting on a flying demo.
Also very interesting is a predator (not a mock up) will give a demonstration

[Jaryd stock]

World Airways 744F due in to Williamtown from Anderson AFB Guam, at 7:30

[Jaryd stock]

The F-16's are due in today As well apparently, from 4:30 onwards there's various times been mentioned but they are in today.
As always subject to variation....

[Jaryd stock]

10 vipers arrived at 5:30pm Callsign used was "DIRCA"

[A McLaughlin]

Aggressors likely will not be at Avalon...

[Nathan Long]

Callsign used was "DIRCA"

Dirka? As in Dirka Dirka?

[Scott K]

What are the chances of the Raptors calling in to Williamtown while there down under? Wish full thinking I Know!

[Jaryd stock]

Not much chance, last time they came direct from Kadena.

[Scott K]

I didn't see any Galaxy or the like come in with the Vipers on Sunday!

[Chris Primmer]

World 747 has left! @10.20am
Took off runway 12 with little trouble, Interesting track to Brisbane then turned toward Hikham

ChrisP

[Scott K]

What are the daily departure times for the Vipers while at Willimtown? What call signs are they using?

[Rob Fluke]

2 F16 fighters have just completed (by the look of it) missed approach drills here at Richmond. 1 had what looked like stock std USAF livery while the other was in the sandy camouflage. Half my luck being out this way for work this morning and lucky I had the scanner in the car lol

[A McLaughlin]

They'll be back at 1500...doing alternate/divert training

[Chris Primmer]

Hey managed to get a couple of F16's today.
And the new hawk colours for those who haven't seen it yet



ChrisP

[Stephen Brown]

A 79 Squadron Hawk at Willy? Are they redoing the paint locally or cycling them through BAE for maintenance?

I was at Raymond Terrace yesterday and caught a few F-16's overhead recovering to base. I remember the last time F-16's were at Willy and some of the flying infractions that happened.....(showing my age)

[Chris Primmer]

Hawks and Falcons,
I have seen 3 Hawks in this scheme with no 16 I think being 79 squad on one side and 76 on the other!
As for the Falcons, saw 8 go up today but have seen 5 Black, 4 Blue and 1 Green & Brown

ChrisP

[Scott K]

What time were they flying?

[Chris Primmer]

Hey Scott,
Up at 10am for around 1 to 1.5 hrs,
Combined as 1 hornet 1 falcon,
Some were 2 falcons
They also go up in the Arvo but not sure of times

ChrisP

[Bob C]

Hi Stephen

The split identity scheme is being adopted across the Hawk fleet because so many aircraft are swapped between Squadrons and repainting into the new Squadron's colours was not a high priority. So we will be seeing the 76 Sqn tail band on one side and 79 Sqn on the other as the aircraft are repainted.

It was not uncommon to see aircraft wearing 79 Sqn colours at Williamtown and vice versa, and all sorts of combinations in between, which made for a real dog's breakfast in my opinion. For instance at the airshow at RAAF Pearce last May, only one of the 14 Hawks wore the full No 79 Sqn scheme.

And the ultimate irony was that the CO of No 79 Sqn and his three young sons were photographed proudly in front of a Hawk - albeit in No 76 Sqn colours !!

[Stephen Brown]

Thanks Bob,

The other Irony is, you always see at least one or two 75 squadron hornets at Willy during a normal days ops.

[Bob C]

Hi Stephen

Yes, and has been happening for years and for the same reason - Hornet airframes are frequently switched between squadrons and once again, repainting into the new Squadron's colours is not a priority.

As an example, when "No 75 Sqn" deployed to Nellis for a Red Flag exercise last year, only two or three of the eight aircraft actually carried No 75 Sqn colours, the others being "borrowed" from other squadrons.

There are many reasons for this such as hours flown by an airframe, the need to equalise airframe hours amongst the fleet, length of time to next major service etc. And perhaps only aircraft that have had various upgrades or certain mission specific equipment fitted could be considered for certain deployments. So if all the Squadron’s aircraft don’t meet various criteria, those in other Squadrons which do, would be “borrowed” for the deployment.

I had lengthy correspondence with the Chief of the Air Force, Air Marshall Geoff Brown AO about this matter and he basically acknowleged that my assertions were correct.

Oh, and not to be outdone, switching is already happening between the F/A18F Squadrons and they have only been in service two years.

Cheers

Bob

[Scott K]

Been watching F16's all morning 8 of them got up in the air including a 4 ship group that took off in single file, they used the call sign 'MIG'.

[Jeff T]

Hi fella's, can anyone tell me what date the F-16's are here to?

I have a day off work next Monday, was hoping they are still here then.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[Scott K]

I have herd a rumor that they mite be here for the duration of the FCI Course. They are still here at the moment.

[Jaryd stock]

Just talking to some of the Hawk pilots at Avalon and they will be here till end of next week they said.

[Jeff T]

Thanks guys, I'll head up there on Monday and hope for the best!

Cheer's,
Jeff.

[Scott K]

All the times that I have been out at the base watching them they haven't been out for long 1hr tops.They have been going out 1 Viper : 2 Hornets also 1 on 1.
When they go out with Hornets they have been using the Hornet's call sign.